Printable Cards to Color and Share for Thanksgiving, Winter, and other Greetings

I made these printable-coloring Thanksgiving cards a few years ago, and the girls and I just came across them again. Our plans this year are up in the air, and so I thought writing cards to all the family we won't see would be fun (although a challenge for little ones who don't like writing!)

These are an easy, low-ink printable, that fold in half to make cards. While I'm getting organized here's a list of all my printable coloring cards:

Thanksgiving

Animal Greetings

Rare Animal Greetings

Bon Hiver (Good Winter)
Update: Cards have been updated and improved, and can now be found in my shop. 

I think I made the last two, but never shared them, so they are brand new. Check out the new Bon Hiver cards below. 

Fall Fantastic

Isn't fall wonderful? Our life has been quite idyllic the last few weeks. The trees turned a million shades of beautiful, the weather turned perfect, and we've spent all of our evenings around a campfire for at least a week. John rigged up a grill over the fire so we could cook corn on the cob. Oh dear, it was heaven.

The girls are loving being outside with the chickens and the fire and the leaves. We don't have quite the array of colors in the photo anymore, but we had such fun making our leaf rainbow and identifying the trees they came from.

We're still settling in, but maybe we always will be. This past weekend we put in our brick sidewalk and introduced the chickens to life outside the pen.

I hope your fall is magical, too!

Thanksgiving

Perhaps you know I have a special love of house plants, and hope to someday have my grandmothers' green thumbs.  I enjoy tending to them and watching them so much more than I do my vegetable garden (unfortunately for my vegetables).  I think its because they're impractical and needy, but also delicate and beautiful.

 I bought this "Christmas" Cactus last year thinking it would be nice to have blooms in the winter.  I learned that my cactus is actually a Thanksgiving cactus, however; and the name changing is just a bit of tricky marketing.  Nevertheless, I brought it indoors when the temperatures dropped, and I was delighted to find it covered in white buds a few days later.

There is certainly something hopeful about a flower that blooms in the low cold months.  It is a reminder of the joy of spring and what will be.  But it is also the presence of the joy that is.

Yesterday, a few buds opened revealing their breathtaking flowers.  These lovely blooms will last through Christmas, a blessing for which I am very thankful.

With a Flower

I hide myself within my flower,
That wearing on your breast,
You, unsuspecting, wear me too --
And angels know the rest.

I hide myself within my flower,
That, fading from your vase,
You, unsuspecting, feel for me
Almost a loneliness.
 - Emily Dickinson

What's your favorite winter houseplant?

Pattern Roundup and some other little bits...

I love Christmas. I mean, who doesn't. But I love the season, I love getting a tree, and cooking, and traveling, the parade, the parties, and making little gifts for the girls. I'm feeling especially domestic today - cleaning house, and making turkey stock and turkey tortilla soup from our Thanksgiving leftovers.

I just want to enjoy this season, so I think I'm done with all my big crafting for the rest of the year - not because of any rules this time. I just feel like it. I will be at Holiday House on Tuesday, December 8. Come out if you're in town - it's always fun, and there will be lots of door prizes.

If you're making Christmas gift this year, I thought I'd round up a list of my tutorials for you. Making a list of all the stuff I've made reminds me that I actually get a lot done, and that makes me feel pretty good. Don't forget you can still add pictures to the wewilsons flickr pool of any of the projects below to get the Smile Crocodile pattern free.

Free Patterns:
Kangaroo Apron
Swatch Frog
Bear Bag (these would make great gift bags for kids!)
Reusable Snack Bag
Knitted Market Bag
Airplane Bag
Spring Cleaning Dust Mitt
Terrariums (fun gifts!)

In the Shop:
Turtle who comes out his shell!
Giraffe
Smile Crocodile
Bunny and Fox Flip Doll an advanced sewing pattern
When Pigs Fly
Secret Messages
Fat Quarter Sling Purse
Fat Quarter Hand Bag
Printable Coloring Book (great stocking stuffer)

Fall Blessings: Porch Time

Okay, I don't think it's technically fall yet, but I'm so grateful for the cooler weather! It's been hard to get out with the heat and a little baby - but L loves a little time outside. We're blessed with a nice big covered porch, and all summer we've been collecting things that we keep in various containers on the porch. When we need to stay close to the house for J sake, we enjoy playing on the porch with our sticks, acorns, rocks, flowers, and pine needles. It's always exciting to shuffle them around and look at everything.

Fall Blessings: Eggs!

You may remember we got some chickens last spring, including quite a few roosters we don't know what to do with. But we're enjoying their crowing. The oldest chickens are bantams and they started laying last week. Bantams, if you don't know, are smaller than regular chickens. In turns out, their eggs are, too. Their about half the size of our store bought eggs. I'm not sure what the rule for cooking with them actually is, but I use twice as many as the recipe calls for.



We have about 6 hens now, so soon we'll have more eggs than we know what to do with. I see lots of omelets in our future.

Fall Blessings

I love fall. I'm so excited about all the upcoming holidays and the cool weather. I've been getting out sweaters and cozy socks. This is L's new sweater.

I made two little butt sweaters before L was born from an Old Navy Sweater Tara gave me. I loved it so much, I just couldn't get rid of it once it got a little misshapen. I switched out L's diapers today(she moved from small to medium!), and found these and was so excited to try them out. I'm not sure how leak proof they'll be, but they'll be nice and warm for the winter.

I had to look around to find the pattern I used, but here it is (scroll down to the bottom of the page). Super easy, and you can get two from most any wool sweater. Yay, recycling!

Fall Blessings, pt. 3

I am feeling very blessed this fall.

We have a great locust tree right outside our back door. Recently most of the leaves fell off, sort of all at once. And now we have a polka-dot porch and picnic table.



And I made this yummy loaf of blue cheese bread on Saturday. There is nothing particularly fall-ish about this, except that I was trying to find a way to use the blue cheese we got for John's birthday (I used a recipe for Asiago bread, and just substituted the blue cheese - wow, it's something!).

Fall Blessings, pt. 2

I love my tiny, hot, gas-powered kitchen. With the cold weather, the windows get all fogged up when I cook. It reminds me of Nanny's dish closet with frosted glass windows, all white and glowy.

When I was a little girl mom would make us wash the pots and pans by hand in the sink. I used to always say, "When I have my own kitchen I'm going to put the pots in the dishwasher!" And now that I'm all grown-up, I do. Except John's good omelet pan. And the really big soup pot.

Fall Blessings

The seasons are changing again, and I am excited about the fall. I was thinking about how much has changed since we first moved into this house.

The walls have changed color a few times, and the furniture has been moved around a lot. We've acquired some new art, a new rug, and a dining table. Then, we had to rearrange the whole house to get the baby's things to fit in neatly. We've lost 2 hens and 2 dogs, and gained 1 cat and 3 chicks. Several appliance have been replaced, and some old things have been fixed.

The first year we lived in this house, I was a baby about the cold. We don't have much storage space, and, to be honest, I was a little afraid of the gas stove.

But today, I brought in some of our plants from the porch for the cooler months, and I was admiring all of the greenery in the house. I suddenly realized what a cozy place this is, and what a fine home it has become. We have learned in the house to adapt to the weather, to take care of our lawn and garden, to weigh what things are really necessary, and to enjoy many of life's simpler pleasures. I feel really blessed by the years our family gets to spend here.